Deeplinks Blog posts about Social Networks

Facebook's Graph Search has certainly caused quite a stir since it was first announced two weeks ago. We wrote earlier about how Graph Search, still in beta, presents new privacy problems by making shared information discoverable when previously it was hard—if not impossible—to find at a large scale. We also put out a call to action—and even created a handy how-to guide—urging people to reassess their privacy settings.

The famed technology writer Steven Levy starts his long-form history of Facebook's newest product—Graph Search—by describing it as a feature that "promises to transform its user experience, threaten its competitors, and torment privacy activists." Though it takes quite a lot to torment us these days, Graph Search does raise a few eyebrows.

Facebook Messages has a feature that tells you when a chat recipient has seen a message. This "read receipt" is, in true Facebook fashion, both nifty and unsettling. And it brings with it tons of potential for abuse. Unfortunately, there's no built-in method to opt out.

It's always pleasant to have a company change its privacy settings in a way that makes it easier for users to control their data. Yesterday, Facebook started rolling out easier-to-access privacy controls. A number of privacy controls - such as controlling who can see your content on Facebook - will be accessible with a single click to an icon on the right side of the top bar of Facebook. We are particularly pleased that Facebook is informing users about these controls with a notification at the top of the page after a user logs in.

After so many years of controversy around Facebook privacy, it's heartening to see Facebook making privacy and control more accessible to users. We hope this interface will inspire users to review the privacy settings of their content.

Facebook recently started rolling out a new "experiment" that would allow any individual to pay a small fee to send a message to your inbox. Your Facebook messages page has two folders: "Inbox" and "Other." Currently, most friend and group messages go to the inbox, while messages from everyone else automatically go to the Other folder. Facebook is testing a feature that would make this no longer true: now anybody can pay ($1 is the latest rumor) to make sure her message goes straight to your inbox.

Even before this change, one could not have a private profile—all profiles are now searchable. But this new experiment takes it even further, where a stranger can not only find your profile, but can also ensure that a message reaches you.